Endangered
Green Peafowl
Pavo muticus
The green peafowl is a peafowl species native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia and Southern China.
Appearance
The green peafowl is a large bird in terms of overall size. The green peafowl is capable of sustained (albeit energy-intensive) flight and is often observed on the wing. Green peafowl males vocalize at their roost sites at dawn and dusk with a loud often repeated ki-wao.
The male is 1.8–3 m (5 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in) in total length, among them its train, that measures 1.4–1.6 m (4 ft 7 in – 5 ft 3 in). The adult female is around half the total length of the breeding male at 1–1.1 m (3 ft 3 in – 3 ft 7 in) in length.
Range and habitat
The green peafowl was widely distributed in Southeast Asia in the past from southern China especially Yunnan, eastern and north-eastern India, southeastern Bangladesh, northern Myanmar, extending through Laos, and Thailand into Vietnam, Cambodia, Peninsular Malaysia, and the island of Java in Indonesia, but in Java they are only found in protected areas such as Ujung Kulon National Park and Baluran National Park. Green peafowl are found in a wide range of habitats, among them primary and secondary forest, both tropical and subtropical, as well as evergreen and deciduous. In Vietnam, the preferred habitat was found to be dry, deciduous forest close to water and away from human disturbance.
The last strongholds are in protected areas such as Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand, Cat Tien National Park in Vietnam and Baluran National Park, Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. In 2005, the World Pheasant Association reportedly conducted reintroductions in Malaysia.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
The green peafowl is a forest bird that nests on the ground laying an egg clutch with three to six eggs. It has been widely stated that the green peafowl is polygynous, but males are solitary and do not display in leks.
Instead the solitary males are highly territorial and form harems with no pair bonds. The close similarity between both sexes also suggests a different courtship display in contrast to that of the Indian peafowl.
In crisis
Formerly common throughout Southeast Asia, only a few isolated populations survive in Cambodia and adjacent areas of Vietnam. It has been listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2009. This is primarily due to widespread deforestation, agriculture and loss of suitable habitat, severely fragmenting populations and contributing to an overall decline in numbers.
Due to hunting, especially poaching, and a reduction in extent and quality of habitat, the green peafowl is evaluated as endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The world population has declined rapidly, and the species no longer occurs in many areas of its past distribution.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Green Peafowl is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Green Peafowl, Wikidata item Q254636. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
